Question Pros/Cons to becoming a CPST

I've noticed that many of the posters here are techs.

I looked and in my area I can take the test to become a tech in August.

What are the pros/cons to being a tech? I really just want to do it because car seat safety is a passion of mine. I see many children in my area that are not properly restrained.

The preschool at my church has already expressed an interest in me providing car seat checks.

Do techs have to buy insurance? I really just want to do this as a community service, not charge money for it. However, if it is going to involve purchasing insurance, etc, I really don't want to do it.

Any insight is appreciated.

Well, it's important to know what opportunities exist to USE your CPST cert in your area.

Do you have a local Safe Kids or other organization that would encourage you to volunteer for them? If so, then you can do check events with them, under their insurance. These check events would also count toward your recert.

If not, let's say you only have a hospital based organization that does not allow volunteers. You'd need to determine how you'd get your checks in for recertification. Private checks don't require insurance, but it sure is a good idea imo, even if you're not charging. It's not that expensive.

Thank you. I have plenty of time to research it and think about it. The closest Safe Kids organization is through a children's hospital.

Hey! Glad to hear you're considering joining the team.

Cons: I honestly can't think of any... aside from the part where you start involuntarily glancing in back seats and seeing rampant misuse. :/ I think many of us have had to train ourselves out of this habit. I suppose there is the potential con of return on investment; if you spend $85+ and 3-4 days training and then don't do much with your cert, it could be "not worth it." But that's really up to you.

Pros: For me, the single biggest short-term pro was "street cred" lol. I had a couple of instances where I told people the same thing, in the same words, both the week before I was certified and the week after. Somehow the first time I was a nut, the second time my words were golden and had an impact, because "I'm certified."

In the long-term, it is playing out to be a potential career change. I hadn't really "planned" on going into child passenger safety, but after 3.5y of certification & volunteering at checks, I landed a part-time gig in a CPS position.

In that interim 3.5 years, I learned a ton by working seat checks and continuing my education, and those experiences were really cool and rewarding. It would be worth it to maintain my cert for the 3-4 events a year I did, plus being able to talk to parents as the need arose.

Insurance - worth it, IMO, if you are doing many private checks. It's about $100/yr, payable annually, and worth it IMO for peace of mind. But you don't HAVE to have it. Lawsuits brought upon CPSTs are extremely rare, and to the best of my knowledge, one has never been successful.

If you want to, you could try reaching out to your local SK and ask them what type of opportunities you'd have if you got certified. You could probably volunteer/scribe at an event to get your toes wet, and get to know people, too.

Good luck!

Well..I already glance in back seats and see issues..lol.

I did some looking online last night and I found some organizations close by that I need to contact to see if they will let me help.